Newport at Last

After a delightful weekend in Block Island and 5 weeks after leaving Cape Canaveral we left our mooring at 8AM to head to Newport. The wind was blowing, the sun was shining, and we had a wonderful sail to Newport. Moving through the harbor it was easy to tell the season has begun. It was full of sailboats large and small most under full sail. Of course there were also 3 barges towed by tugs that passed coming or going. It was a very busy day. We did not see any America Cup boats out and about though.  We arrived back to our former marina and tied up by 1PM. Our daughter, Sarah, was there to meet us with lunch in tow. We had a wonderful reunion talking non stop while eating lunch. We also saw lots of old friends; Dave and Judy on Escape and Donal and Bridget on Ireland's Eye passed us in Newport Harbor, Mark and Mary on The Good Life hailed us on VHF radio from Dutch Harbor, Eric and Jen from Antares arrived on our dock headed to their boat, Rich and Don and Barbara from dock 400 called over. It feels like home already.

Jane went with Sarah to see her new house rental in Newport and walk the dog while Peter stayed on Kinvara to hook up the electricity. When Jane returned she found friends, Bernie and Aiden from Lambay were on board visiting. What a warm welcome.  We are suffering from sticker shock though with the higher dockage prices here in the north!

The day ended with Sarah, Mark and Mary Woodard for dinner at The Grill restaurant here.



Lighthouse at Castle Hill.



Castle Hill Resort



Schooner by the Dumplings.




Mega yacht working on the rigging.



Passing under the Newport Bridge

Block Island or Bust!

We originally thought we would leave Port Jefferson to have some current with us but we woke early...real early. We are so far east now that it is bright enough to wake up at 4:30. So we had coffee, got dressed, and reviewed our options. By 6:30 we were ready to leave even though we had some current against us we would pick it up again in 6 or 7 hours. Today's trip is 75 miles and goes through a narrow cut through 2 islands. The current can be so strong that it is impossible to get through. Timing is everything for today's trip. We were approaching the cut about 1:30 and noticed the current change. Our boat speed started increasing. By the time we got to Plum Gut we had a 2.5k current with us going through. The day was beautiful and much cooler than the last 2 days. We knew the heat wave was over.  The wind increased and the sails went up. On a close haul straight to Block Island we were loving it.....until we heard the Coast Guard put out a weather warning for sever storms over Long Island and boaters should seek safe harbor immediately. We were not in Long Island anymore so Jane checked the weather radar on the phone. Sure enough most of the storm was moving north of us but there were other cells moving in our direction. We kept the sails up and motored as well with only 12 miles to go. We could see Block Island in the distance. With only 4-5 miles left the winds started to increase, indicating the edge of a front, so we reefed both sails but kept up our boat speed.  At 6PM we entered the harbor under half sail....so happy to beat the storm but so happy to be back again.  We were able to pick up a mooring ball just before the storm broke. The wind gusts picked up immediately and the 2 smaller motor boats started swinging wildly. The boat behind us was too small to pull back on his mooring chain and he swung behind us dragging his mooring ball and line under our transom making the wheel swing wildly around.  Fortunately there was no damage to our rudder.

The rest of the evening was spent with our friend, Ian Mc Mahon and his sister Fiona, who came to our boat for dinner. We grilled steaks and had shrimp & mashed potato. Yummy!  The next day Peter assembled our folding bikes and we rode into town. The quaint New England atmosphere was every where....and the profusion of flowers. That is part of what we miss after moving to Florida.

Local hotel

Fiona and Ian

Harbor from 'The Oar' bar

Sandy Hook to Port Jefferson

Jane spent a lot of time early this morning checking weather forecasts, currents in New York City and Hell Gate and eventually out into Long Island sound. To put it plainly she did an outstanding job once again. We set off from Sandy Point at 6.30, which seems to be our starting time every day, and headed into the city that never sleeps!! We were surprised at the lack of major ship traffic. One cruise ship entered the port before us but besides that only barge traffic moved in and out the channel. Of course the ferries cris-crossing the harbor were everywhere but this did not impede our passage. We said our good mornings to Lady Liberty as we passed and gave a thought to all who perished on 9/11 as we passed the Battery. It was awe inspiring to see the new towers climb to the sky. Pictures can not do justice to the scenes as we passed through.


Lady Liberty



The New Towers





Light entering New York Harbor

The city was shrouded with fog or heat haze or whatever so the pictures on Jane's camera did not come out too well. Peter took lots of pictures with his expensive equipment but found that a very important component was missing when it came time to down load the pictures, you guessed it, no compact flash card.
We flew through the East River at speeds up to 13.7mph. Now that is cruising!! We were clear of the city and the East River three hours after leaving Sandy Hook. Sails went up and we set a course up Long Island Sound to Port Jefferson. The total distance we covered today was 73 statute miles. Not bad after the 120 yesterday. We fueled up when we arrived and picked up a mooring ball for the night. We went ashore for a quick look around and had dinner at a local fish restaurant.
Peter talked to our friend Ian McMahon this afternoon and he may sail from Mystic tomorrow and meet us in Block Island. It all depends on weather conditions as usual so we will wait and see. We hope to get to Block ourselves tomorrow and spend Saturday there before returning to NEB on Sunday. 

New Jersey Coast

We hoisted our anchor off the Coast Guard station in Cape May at 6.30am and followed several other sail boats out the channel. We headed north once again in mild conditions and left the possibility open to go all the way to Sandy Hook if we felt the conditions allowed during the day. Two of the boats leaving with us were planning to go on a direct course to Block Island on an overnight passage. We gave it some thought but after several long days we decided it was better for us to stick with our plan and go the New Jersey coastal route.
 We passed Atlantic city by 11am and Barnegat Bay by 3pm and on we went. At times the current, wind and waves favored us and at other times they slowed us down. We were racing sun-down to the hook but eventually Mother Nature won the race once again and we found ourselves navigating in the dark into the anchorage at Sandy Hook. We were exhausted and were in bed within the hour. When we woke up in the morning we found ourselves within a few hundred yards of a massive fish trap area. We had a reading on our radar when we dropped the hook and we never approached the area even though we could not determine what the bounce was from. New York City once again as in 2009 looked awesome across the bay with a million lights blinking in the night sky.
Just a couple of observations to finish for today. The water of the coast through the mid-Atlantic northward is in so much better condition than that in the southern states. The pollution from the Georgia Pacific plants along the coast and probably the run off from the farm land is devastating to see. The New Jersey coast was alive with fish and of course lots of happy fishermen catching them. It was good to see such abundant sea life.

Bear, Delaware

Another early rising day at 5:30AM. Our favorite town, Annapolis was behind us by 6:30 AM.
There were 12 large tanker or cargo ships anchored in the bay waiting for a turn to go to Baltimore. The tall ships event is in Baltimore until tomorrow. We are happy to be heading through the C & D canal before the ships come through on their way to NY. We just may see them again though on the way. Our trip today was another perfect day with sails up motor sailing through slack tide most of the way north. There were not many other boats around. Cruising season seems to be at it's end and we only see a lot of boat traffic on weekends.

There have been high tides with coastal flooding for the last few days so we have been seeing a lot of logs and stumps floating in the water. There were quite a few to do some damage to smaller boats. Finally about noontime Peter contacted the Coast Guard because we were playing dodge the log in the river leading up to the canal.  So upon arriving we fueled up and Peter got a ride to the grocery store. This was great because we can now keep travelling for a bit more before re provisioning.  This marina is in the middle of the canal which surrounds a national woodland park. It has lots of birds & bugs and is very tranquil.....that is until a train rumbled through at 4:14 this morning.  Tomorrow's forecast is for light S winds and only 1-2 foot waves in the Delaware River. Unfortunately we can not use the Cape May canal which avoids a trip out of the river and around the headland. That adds probably another 10 miles to our trip but can't be avoided.

Starting to feel like New England

Captain at the helm

A very cold admiral takes her turn

Happy Father's Day!

What a difference a day makes. After getting the crap kicked out of us for the past four or five days we headed out again this morning not really knowing what Mother Nature had in store for us this time. Well she gave us a day that you can only dream about. We were up and ready to go at 6.30 and we hoped that we had calculated the tides a little better than on previous days. The entrance to Reedville bay was still rough and windy but as we turned north on our course things began to settle down and we hoisted our sails and motor sailed at 8+mph cross the Potomac on a course for Solomon Island in 2 to 3ft seas and wind 10 to 20k. We were flying. Compared to the previous days it felt like we had the after burners on. We made a decision by noon time that we would keep on going to Annapolis which was roughly another 42  miles for a total of apx. 90. 12 hours later we picked up our mooring in one of the east coasts most beautiful harbors. We have been here several times before both by boat and by car and we could easily have retired here. We are just yards off the town docks and the sailing ship BOUNTY is tied up on the end dock. This is the ship which was built for the movie, MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY, starring Mel Gibson. We had seen it in Norfolk last weekend where it took part in OPSAIL NORFOLK 2012. I am sure we will see it again on our way north next week. Another highlight of our day was passing the CG EAGLE on its way back down the Chesapeake probably on its way to New York or Newport.

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Coast Guard Eagle

If Ian is reading this, Peter wants you to know that he was thinking of you this morning when he was having his brown bread and butter with strawberry/rhubarb jam and a cup of Barry’s tea. He will have it ready for you in Newport.
During our trip to the Bahamas this winter we met a couple from Philadelphia, Craig and Lisa. We spent a few weeks with them and shared some awesome adventures both on land and at sea. They are now living on their boat in Annapolis and working locally. Unfortunately Lisa had to work tonight, she is a nurse, so we did not get to see her but Craig did come on board and shared some Crab and a beer and some tall tales from the seas.

The weather forecast looks good for the next few days so we will set off again in the morning and head for the anchorage in the C&D Canal.

Reedville, VA

This morning we hauled anchor at 6:30 ready for a great day according to weather reports. Our intended destination was 64 miles north to Solomons Island. It didn't take too long to get outside into the Chesapeake but there were lots of crab pot floats and the sun was in our eyes. It was not starting off stress free at that point!  Once clear of the pots we settled down to moving north. the usual 10-15k wind forecast was immediately 15-20 with 3-4' seas. More than expected but we kept going. Our usual speed however was only about 3-4mph probably because of current, wind, and waves which were all on our bow. At one point Peter adjusted course to avoid large beds of floating sea grass and the forward speed showed 0. It was very frustrating. After an hour or two the wind picked up to 20-25k and that made the waves higher also. We were not making much progress. Reedville.  Once out of the bay it's like a whole other world inside. To our delight there was a tall ship anchored in the harbor so we went around it a few times.


Picton Castle, a British tall ship anchored in Reedville

 Our first anchorage spot was littered with pots so we turned up Cockerell Creek toward Reedville and found a little cove of 10' of water.


Smelly Fish!

Unfortunately it's right across from a fish processing plant. Fortunately for us it's the weekend so they are not working. Even in our anchorage the wind kept up all afternoon.  We were in and settled by 1:30PM. Tomorrow the day is suppose to be much better and they have lifted all small craft warnings. So off we go again but this time we will time it to move with the current. Once we cross the Potomac we are in Maryland.....inching our way along.

Deltaville

This morning we woke early and had our coffee by 6am. We checked the weather again and decided that things had not settled enough to head out again. We had breakfast and sat around twiddling our thumbs until we saw another boat leaving so guess what, we decided to give it a shot. By now it was 8.30am and the sky looked clear and the wind seemed to have died down somewhat. We exited the marina and headed for the open Chesapeake Bay. We turned north on our intended course and within twenty minutes we decided that the 20k wind on the nose and the 4ft seas bouncing us like a cork was not conducive to a pleasant passage. We tacked to port and headed into the anchorage we stayed at 3 years ago on our way south. We dropped anchor and settled in for another relaxing day.

 

Shortly after anchoring Peter saw a boat being taken out on the lift and having the bottom pressure washed. He has been concerned about the prop and the zincs so he decided to call the marina and see if we could get a short haul and take care of the bottom etc. We were scheduled to be hauled at 2pm so we hauled the anchor and headed for the lift. The prop was working fine but the zinc needed replacement as well as the shaft zinc. The crew scraped the crustaceans off and power washed the bottom. Nice to know everything is in good shape for our remaining trip to RI.

We will try again tomorrow to head as far north as is comfortable. It looks as if we will not be stopping in Annapolis this trip. The weather seems to be in our favor next week so we will have to take advantage of it To get through the Delaware River and past the NJ coastline. 

Deltaville, VA

Tuesday, June 12, 2010

Greetings from Deltaville. We left Norfolk, VA at 6AM this morning to at least get a jump up the Chesapeake. It was predicted to be 3-4' waves with 15-20k winds from the SE. There was no rain or thunderstorms on the horizon so we  left with the navy ships  leaving port after the Norfolk OPSAIL event.

Our navy escort out of Norfolk

One of 8 ships in our escort!!!

It took us 1.5 hours to get out of the river and head north into Chesapeake Bay. For the first few hours the waves were 3-4' following seas with winds sustained 15-17k. We were happy with no storms in sight and thought we would make 65nm to an anchorage.

6 to 8ft following sea.

By 10AM the winds picked up to 20-22k sustained, gusting to 25, and the waves increased to 4-6'.  We were moving at 8-9mph so we were still happy at this point on autopilot.  All of a sudden a really large wave hit us from behind making us roll violently to starboard. From that point on Peter decided to hand steer. The winds picked up and so did the seas. We have a 5' free board so we figure we were in 6-8' waves since they were well above the free board and the wind started gusting to 30k.  So, Jane took out the charts and quickly figured a course to Deltaville.  We arrived by 1:30 in the middle of a squall which reached 32+k and Peter docked brilliantly in 20k winds. Thank goodness we are way into shore and out of the wind. Below decks was a mess. We thought we had things stowed really well but now we know what else needs to be done!

Aftermath of our Chesapeake encounter
with mother nature.

Chris Parker's predictions mirror NOAA and it looks like we won't be able to move out of here until the weekend.  The rates are good with our Boat US membership and it's quiet.  Hopefully not too quiet!  At least we are not in the middle of a swamp or forest at anchor. So here we sit for a bit!!

Norfolk, Virginia

We left Coinjock at 6.30am this morning and set out on what we thought would be a piece of cake trip. The ICW did not give up her grip on us too easily. We were joined along the way by several motor boats of various sizes and a few sail boats all heading to the cooler north. The path was windy and at several spots the depth dropped off dramatically for short periods of time, just enough to make my adrenalin pump. Once again Kinvara brought us through with flying colors.
Bridges!!! If we never see one again we will not be sad. We had to pass through a half dozen on the 50 miles to Norfolk. Most of them open on the hour and the half hour so you have to hurry up and wait at most of them. This is very frustrating when there are 6 or 7 other boats all milling around in a confined area all doing the same thing. We try our best to time the approach as close as we can but it is not always easy. Along with the bridges we had to go through a lock also. That was an experience. The last one we went through was at Cape Canaveral a few years ago. I believe there were 8 or 10 boats in the lock with us. It was not a very dramatic transfer. We only dropped 2 feet before exiting on the other side.
After passing through a few more railway bridges we finally said farewell to the ICW just before entering Norfolk.

The Admiral checking lines in the Canal Lock

Combination rail and highway bridge
entering Norfolk.



We have passed dozens of Osprey nests
on the ICW mile markers.

Now for the best part of the day. The Tall Ships were still berthed here since the big parade this past weekend. We took a slip in Tidewater Marina and as soon as we showered and checked in we took the water taxi to the down town and visited several of the ships docked there. Awesome is the only word to describe them. Of course we will see them again on our way north and of course in Newport in July.



After sailing Kinvara for the past 6 years
Jane could handle this one with ease!!



Just like the lines on Kinvara!!



 



Awesome sight

Weapon of Choice

We have discovered in traveling the ICW at this time of year the most important weapon you can carry on board. Hands down it has saved our hide from nasty biting flies!!

Fly Swatter, can't live without it.

Today, Sunday, we had planned to stay in Dowry Creek Marina to do some boat keeping...but the call of the sun and fair winds had us rethinking our plans. The locals were telling us at their happy hour of stormy weather to come Mon. through Wed. so we high tailed it out of Belhaven at 6AM this morning. The best thing about moving northeast for so long is having sunrise a little earlier. We had to cross 2 open bodies of water that can get nasty in stormy weather...like being in the open ocean....so plans were to travel 80 miles today. We did 10 miles in the Pungo River, 20 miles through the Pungo-Alligator Canal, 20 miles through the Alligator River, 15 miles across the open Albemarle Sound, and 15 miles up North River to Coinjock Marina on the Virginia Cut canal. There we will stay the night and decide where to go next.

One sail up

 Our journey today took us 11-12 hours thanks to some good wind speed and direction. We were able to move along under full sail and engine in the Alligator River and across Albemarle Sound reaching speeds of 8.6mph. Overall we averaged a little over 7mph over the 12 hours.
There was a clear lack of interesting things to see. There were no dolphins or pelicans, only few osprey flying about and a few deer spotted on the river bank, very few houses and absolutely no recreational boats. There were very few cruising boats traveling with us during the day. To pass the time Peter chatted on the VHF with the other cruising boats and Jane made bread. This was the longest day we traveled since our overnight to Charleston....but every mile under the keel is another mile closer to our destination. Today's cruise was an easy one though., perfect weather and no stress about tides, inlets, or even depths. We don't blink an eye anymore with 4' under our keel.

Notice our course heading?

Finally...heading north at last.
We have been going E or NE forever!



Crab pot floats were everywhere!
Getting us ready for lobsta pots!!

As we came to the end of the canal into the Alligator River we remembered our friends from the trip south in 2009. Bob and Connie from s/v Meredith spent time with us on the Dismal Swamp Canal and in Elizabeth City. We then traveled to the Alligator River where we anchored for the night. They are cruising friends we stay in touch with and see every so often. We wish them well in their cruising adventures now in the Mediterranean.

Bellhaven, NC June 9th.

Another beautiful day to set sail again. Our motto has become, "Make sail when the sun shines!"
We left Oriental, NC this morning at 6:30AM with only inches under our keel.......0.6 inches to be exact. Thank goodness there is no tide or much change in water level.  We quickly made our way into the large Neuse River and it was just glorious. We used our sails off and on. The wind speed kept changing from light to about 10-12k out of the NW. We had the expanse of water to ourselves. There were a couple of fishing boats close to shore early on and then we tracked another sailboat for a bit. We were planning to travel only 50 miles today to Dowry Creek Marina in order to use their loaner car to provision. We arrived by 1:30 to fuel up and dock. This time Peter was able to reverse into the slip since there was no current and light winds....easy. We were also able to get off the boat without climbing over our bow and jumping to the dock!  The drive to the grocery store was about 4 miles each way but it went through huge expanses of wheat and corn fields. Farming is alive and well in North Carolina.  We attended a dock gathering at 5:30 and met 2 couples who are live aboards here. The marina is really nice and quiet in the middle of a small creek. There is nothing around but they have a pool, a courtesy car for shopping, and easy on...off the ICW.

Coinjock Marina

Love the bottle garden at the pool.



Cute little swallows who nest under the dock and are very friendly.
They also love to eat mosquitoes!!



Just a reminder

If you click on 'where is kinvara' on the top of the post you can see our route north. Each place we stop will be marked by a sailing boat (what a coincidence!!).

Oriental, North Carolina

Sunrise on the waterway

Another awesome day on the water. We left the anchorage in Camp LeJeune by 6.30am so we could get the 7am opening of the next swing bridge. Once again the tides were not in our favor but we had no choice but to deal with the currents and plod on. We traveled for miles through Camp LeJeune and the live fire range. Of course they shut the waterway down when they have live fire practice. How and ever, you can see some of the targets in the brush as you pass.

Our goal for the day was 57 miles to an anchorage just before entering the Neuse river. While checking our position shortly before the anchorage Peter realized we were just across the river from Oriental so we decided to stop there for the night. This at one time was home for our friends Joe and Cherie so they explained on the phone how to get into the dock. There is a live camera mounted on the roof of a nearby house and when you access it on the net you can see the marina with all its activity. When we tied up at the dock we went across the road to the coffee house and Cherie could see Jane waving to her on the porch. She is in Brunswick, Georgia. How cool is that.

One of our favorite pass times is selecting a new house for ourselves along the ICW. Today we added a few to our wish list. It is hard to comprehend the wealth we see day after day all up and down the coastal waterways.

Jane's favorite house.

Peter's favorite house.

Along the way we found a few playful dolphins and Jane was able to get a photo of one riding just under the bow wave.  They are incredible animals.

We arrived in Oriental by mid afternoon...a charming little town and very boat friendly.

Oriental Marina
Kinvara is docked on the right side.